Due to the Radio Frequency (RF) system design preference of a clear line-of-sight, cellular towers tend to be located at high elevations relative to their surroundings. This makes them vulnerable to lightning strikes, and to prevent damage to the tower and the radio gear on it, feeder cables are electrically bonded to the tower at regular intervals. Grounding at midpoint locations on cables divert lightning strike currents that may travel along the cable to the tower or other cabling specifically installed to handle high current and/or high voltage. However, in the field, grounding clamps located at mid-span locations on coaxial cables sometimes invite corrosion and environmental elements to enter the inner components of the coaxial cable. Most grounding kits require a circumferential band of cable jacket material to be removed to expose an outer conductor of a coaxial cable. The exposed outer conductor must be covered, and the edges of the remaining cable jacket must be sealed entirely circumferentially around the jacket in at least two places. This sealing can be accomplished with a clamshell type grounding clamp, but the edges of the jacket that need to sealed are usually discontinuous edges resulting from the removal process, and are prone to leaking. The difficulty in providing an annular seal along discontinuous edges leads to moisture migration under the cable jacket to other equipment along the feeder cable.
Thus, a need exists for an apparatus and method for a minimally invasive grounding clamp that can engage the outer conductor and provide grounding without removing an annular portion of the cable jacket.